jeddlad

I like Robbie's gentle manner but his mooring up in the Marina at the end of episode was certainly reminiscent of Tim West......

"Assume"........ Have a lovely day.

That was exactly my point in the original post (way back when), when we first discussed this. Most boat movers insurance isn't worth the paper it's printed on.....

If you ask any boat mover, they will say they are fully insured. Technically with a 3rd party liability policy they can say they are fully insured as they are....however they are not fully comprehensively insured. It's always buyer beware regardless of what products / services you buy......As a customer choosing a boat mover, it's down to you and you only, to check your boat is comprehensively insured whilst they move it.

This is the last time I go into this. ........ The insurance documents my friend has as a boat mover are very clear, he is covered for any damage he causes when moving a boat to any 3rd party but the actual boat he is moving is not covered. I've arranged the policy on his behalf, I've seen the documents and I spoke to many insurance companies regarding this issue during the process of arranging his insurance renewal. If you don't want to believe me that's fine. Short of publishing the insurance document on here, I really give up........

I never said commercial insurance wasn't available for Boat Movers, what I said was that they all have 3rd party liability insurance and that the craft they are moving is usually covered under the craft owners policy. I tried to get the equivalent of fully comprehensive insurance for a friend on his boat moving company and we couldn't find an insurance company willing to offer anything more than 3rd party liability. We tried the "specialist insurance" end of the market and they wouldn't offer more than 3rd party liability either. A commercial insurance policy for a static Air BnB is a very different proposal (insurance wise) than a policy for an active boat mover.

Alas my biggest cruise will be to the boat broker.....Time to sell up amd move on. I don't feel sad about it......Yet.

I'd say that he is a proper celebrity as opposed to the publicity hungry queens that is Foxes afloat. As I'm a queen myself, I'm allowed to call them queens before anyone gets upsets. It's you straights who aren't allowed to say queen or queer.......😀😁😂😃

I helped a friend set up a boat moving business last year and I contacted multiple insurance companies on his behalf. No one would cover the actual boat he was moving for any damage (he caused) to that vessel. They offered 3rd party liability insurance to cover anything he damaged whilst using a customer's vessel but the customer's boat was NOT insured apart from through the customer's own insurance policy. I'm no insurance expert, this is my personal experience after trying to find fully comp kind of cover for my friend and his business.

Lol so you would think. All boat movers only have 3rd party liability insurance. Anything they hit whilst moving your boat is covered but your boat isn't. All the boat movers says they are fully insured, yes they are fully insured, with 3rd party liability insurance. It is impossible for boat movers to get fully comp insurance as none of the insurance companies offer a policy such as this

Sven from SOS Boatmovers is a good guy. Search for SOS Boatmovers on Facebook. I know he charges about £10 per hour. Other movers can charge £14 per hour and one I know of, even tries to charge people for a labourer at £10 per hour to help with the locks!

Or tied precariously with the thinnest bit of blue rope they can find.

Usually I don't watch this kind of thing but (as no fan of Mr Parry) I thought it was well done and it held my attention till the end. It was informative, showed the canals and the variation of them and was well shot. Many boaters don't realise that we can't pay for the upkeep of the canals through our licence fees alone and I thought Richard Parry made the point well. I had to speak to CaRT recently, the lady on the phone didn't know the information I required. Within 1 hour she called me back and as I was driving left a message on my ansaphone. She then called me again before she left the office to check I'd got the message and info required. Great service......I wish the likes of BT, the mobile phone and utility companies were as customer focused. Yes CaRT don't get it right all the times but I often feel they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. For example the towpath grass cutting saga! I was mightily pleased to see the CaRT work boat turn up near my mooring on Monday and start a winter long plan to cut the reeds back from a 8 mile street of canal near me.

I gave up with my Mikuni MX40 years ago. Ripped it out and replaced it with a Refleks. The MX40 was being very troublesome, they'd just stoped making the spares and I was totally fed up with it. To be fair, I do wish I'd still got something similar as they are useful for heating hot water on those summer days when you don't move and the solar has charged the batteries and heating on days or nights when it's not quite cold enough to light the Refleks but is a tad chilly. Of course, the above is IMHO.

I'm from Sheffield as well, I've also had a narrowboat for 10+ years. I've never had the boat on the SSYN. Unfortunately for me, Sheffield (my beloved home city) is on the arse end of the system. Ie it's a dead end and a very long dead end with limited cruising opportunities. My boat has always been in the Midlands. I used to be moored near Rugeley and it was only an hour and 10 mins by car (not at peak times), Sawley Marina where I was moored many moons ago, was only an hour..... Where I'm moored at the moment is approx an hour and twenty mins to an hour and forty mins away from home depending on traffic / time of day. My advice would be, if you're not planning on living aboard, is to NOT have the boat moored in Sheffield.

Peel have wanted CaRT to take over the Bridgewater Canal for years.........please note, just the canal and the water, not any of the land....... CaRT have been, very sensibly, declining Peel's "kind" offer due to the fact that the Bridgewater needs tens of millions of pounds spending on it. Most, if not all, of the aqueducts leak and the Barton Swing Bridge needs upwards of 6 million quid spending on it alone....................

There is another water point at the end of the (closest to Rice Street) Staffordshire arm. It's hidden away by the bridge. The one you have ringed is by the 2 large trip boats. The other water point is at the end of the Staffordshire arm under a bridge, almost opposite one of the hotel / air bnb boats I agree re breasting up, that's what I would have done but they were being polite and just hovered............

I spent the night in Castlefield Basin last Friday night. I was on the visitor moorings in the Staffordshire arms (not a typo or a pub for those that don't know, there are actually two arms side by side). I was surprised how few boats were there. I arrived around 11am and was expecting to take hobsons's choice but I had my pick. My only moan would be that the woman who runs the hotel / air bnb boats, moored on the water point for over 2.5 hours. I didn't need water but I felt sorry for couple who needed water and hovered for nearly an hour. The woman was cleaning the boats not filling them with water - selfish. On the plus side, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay. Lots of people around, no trouble or bad behaviour, rubbish / recycling bins, very central, could walk everywhere. I would say it was quiet even for a Friday night but after a night out with my cousin, I sorta passed out when I got back to the boat!!😀😁😂 The Police Community Support Officers were over by the Manchester Bowl and I motioned across the arms if they'd like a cuppa. They both came over for a cup of tea and a most interesting chat. They do patrol the area by the canal often and are well known in community. They said that because they mainly patrol the same beats and the fact that they are not police officers meant that the local community tended to engage with them much more than conventional police. There is also another water point by the two massive trip boats and also an elsan point but you need a Bridgewater key to access the elsan point (not the water). You can also moor in the loop if there is space but most of the moorings in the loop are now long term permit holders. My only other observation is that the closer you get to Manchester, people become a lot less "wavy" or smiley as you go past.............Big city living............

Lol, Arthur, I'm certainly no slouch and was going at a decent pace myself. The guy over taking me whilst we were passing a long line of boats was at almost full throttle......

Social media is awash with boaters moaning about other boaters speeding past moored boats. It's been going on all summer. I've been keeping quiet on the subject until now.... Yesterday as I was going past a long line of moored boats (on line moorings for both a boat club and an adjacent marina) a private boater came speeding up behind me and overtook me creating a massive wash and his counter was "riding the wave", as he passed, I casually asked him if we didn't need to slow down for moored boats any more, he just accelerated more and now at full speed, continued his over taking manoeuvre. I still had a great day but did shake my head at the amount of idiots out cruising at the moment.............

I always enjoyed your comments and views. Your take no rubbish, suffer no fools and take no prisoners comments are missed.......By me at least! Glad to hear all is going well motor homing. I'm in the process of getting my narrow boat ready for sale. I've had the boat for 10 years and like you, feel the need to explore horizons not accessible by boat.

I don't know why, but I never cruise with the side hatch open. I've always shut it and always will......Can't give you a reason why. Similarly I never cruise with the bow doors open. Thinking about it, I'm normally single handed and just don't like the doors or side hatch open as I cruise along.

Join the Refleks Diesel Stove group on facebook. Lots of info there and plenty of people who have Refleks and can offer advice. Not all Refleks burn blue, for example the 62 model burns mainly yellow. Any Refleks that uses the same catalyst at the 62 will burn predominantly yellow. Also not all Refleks stoves light the way described above. There are 2 types of controllor that can be used and the description above is just for 1 of those types. I prefer the firelighters method, I just turn the fuel on, let the base of the burner pot get covered in fuel, turn the fuel off, throw in 1/2 a fire lighter, wait for the catalyst to glow red and then turn the fuel back on. Leave and enjoy. The beauty of Refleks is leaving it running 24 hours a day. Mine supplies hot water to the radiators in the bathroom and bedroom plus heats the calorifier. I leave the stove running on minimum, 24 hours a day when I'm on board in winter. Uses approx 3.6 litres of red per 24 hours......Cheaper than coal (depending on what you pay for 0% red) and the heat stays at a constant temperature. Also the entire boat is toasty warm when you wake up in the morning.

I'm not saying anything to drop myself in it...... See you on the cut.... Ooooooops

Fantastic suggestion, loved it as a teenager inbthe 80's. Unfortunately looks very dated now.........Still a good suggestion